Local Bluegrass Fans Organize Homegrown Music Festival

Courtesy PhotoLocal artist Jason Jones has built a 15 foot tall cardboard sculpture that will be among the many art installations at Homegrown Music Fest.

When Harvest Fest, the popular bluegrass/folk music festival at Mulberry Mountain, cancelled in 2014 no one was quite as bummed as Jessica Sumner and her friend Jeremy Gunn.

Both Sumner and Gunn are both small business owners and musical festival regulars, and Harvest Fest was especially important to them. It was only a matter of time before Sumner found motivation and decided something had to be done.

“There was a hole in the market for a small bluegrass festival,” Sumner said. “I sent Jeremy a text message saying, ‘Somebody is going to do this. Someone from St. Louis or New York is going to come down here and get this property at Byrds and do something like Harvest Fest. Why can’t we do this?’ And he literally replied, ‘Let’s meet Thursday at Common Grounds and figure it out.”

Before long, the two teamed up with Hannah Withers and Ben Gitchel — the owners of Maxine’s Taproom and who produce the annual Block Street Block Party — and with their experience and expertise in event production formed a formidable team.

The inaugural Homegrown music festival is now primed for the weekend of July 21-23 at the ever-popular small festival site, Byrd’s Adventure Center. The lineup is impressive for a first-time fest, with headliners Leftover Salmon, The Wood Brothers, Earphunk, Town Mountain and a slew of mid-level and local bluegrass acts on the bill.

Tickets can be bought at Maxine’s Tap Room and Ozark Beer Company for $120 for a full event pass and $90 for a Friday/Saturday pass. Tickets will cap off at 3,000 in order to keep the fest intimate and keep sustainable goals in check. About 90 percent of ticket sales so far have been from out-of-state from around the region and the country.

Courtesy PhotoEugene Sargent hoists up two metal cut Homegrown Music Festival pieces which will be used to decorate the festival grounds. Many local artists are contributing works to be displayed throughout the festival.

Withers and Gitchel, who are now older with kids, don’t go to music festivals much anymore. With that perspective, they brought an emphasis on sustainability and family-friendly programming.

“I think it’s your responsibility when you’re bringing that many people together to be as sustainable as possible,” Gunn said. “Hannah’s great, she’s got so many ideas. Her and Jessica are just awesome. They tell me what to pick up and what to go do and I fall in line. They’re the engine.”

Several green ideas are planned to reduce waste and reuse as much as possible. To cut down on trash, there’s a token system for plates and utensils and everyone gets a bamboo fork-spoon hybrid. Attendees will use the tokens at vendors for a plate of food, and when they’re finished, they take the dirty dishes to a dish washing station ran by volunteers with the Mulberry River Society in exchange for another token. All of the food scraps are sent to compost, and a local farmer will take the food scraps to his farm’s pigs to eat each day.

To operate as sustainable as possible, the team has had to get creative with their ideas.

“There isn’t a lot of infrastructure to support a festival that runs this way,” Withers said. “It’s easy to order a bunch of dumpsters, and it’s a whole other thing when you start talking about low waste and small carbon footprint and single use plastics. We’ve learned a lot in the past few months.”

Richter Solar Energy will be on site providing solar-powered charging stations for devices in an effort to offset the festival’s carbon footprint.

Courtesy PhotoThe Wood Brothers will be headlining Saturday Night at Homegrown Music Festival.

To encourage recycling, volunteers will be riding bikes throughout the campsites with recycling bin wagons attached. As a bonus, campers are encouraged to compete for the “Cleanest Campsite” and will be judged on their sustainability, cleanliness and creativity at the end of the festival. Winners will receive six free tickets to Homegrown 2017 as well as lots of goodies from the fest’s sponsors.

The Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality will also be on site to study and gather data on the festival’s composting and environmental impact, Withers said.

Mulberry River Society is the festival’s steward non-profit, and the volunteer organization is leading the sustainability aspects. They are the sole organization looking to preserve and protect the Mulberry River, and Homegrown will be sharing 1 percent of their profits to the group.

The organizers are also making a push for the festival to be something the whole family can enjoy — something Harvest Fest’s folksy music selection and vibe did well.

“Live music and partying to a degree should be a multi-generational experience,” Withers said. “I think it’s important for kids to go with their parents and see them having a good time and learn how to have fun in a safe way.”

Courtesy PhotoIn an effort to be sustainable, Homegrown Fest will use a token system for plates. Attendees can use tokens to receive plates for food, and take the dirty dishes back to dish washing stations where they can receive a token in return.

Art Feeds, another benefiting non-profit partner, is hosting the Family Tent, where there will be several hands on activities led by local teachers and artists with things like a Where the Wild Things Are parade. There’s also a kid-only dance floor next to main stage so parents can keep an eye on the kids and still catch Leftover Salmon. If quiet camping is needed, there’s a special secluded campsite with lights out by 11 p.m., too.

The festival also provides an opportunity for teenagers to experience live music acts that would otherwise be exclusive to the bar scene, Gunn said.

Local business support for the festival comes from Fossil Cove, Pack Rat, Ozark Beer Company, Phat Tire Bike shop and Whole Foods. Ozark Natural Foods are also going to be doing a pop up farmers market with ready-to-grill kabobs and produce so campers can get a fresh option during the festival.

As of publishing this article, the festival is only a week away. The production team have been faced with long days of organizing and last minute additions and tweaks.

“I would be lying to say we aren’t nervous, but I think we’re going to do really well,” Sumner said. “How I describe it to people, it’s like you’re going to a national title game and you don’t get to practice. You’ve talk a lot about the plays you’re going to make but you haven’t stepped on the field or court to practice.”